arrives, Louis’s ties with the priests, the men who have so shaped and anchored his world, have been severed. And this surely affects everything in his world.
But with the hard times come good times, too. A huge party is thrown in Louis’s honour on the first of January, with as many as two hundred members of the Métis community coming together at the home of Baptiste Boyer to celebrate and to show their love and respect for Louis. He has come to make a stand for them, and this party is given in the hope that the rest of the year will be just as bountiful. This will be the year when the government finally pays attention and gives due where due is deserved.
No one at this point can fathom how quickly things will slide into anarchy.
Four weeks later to the day, Dewdney, the lieutenant governor and head of the territorial government of the North-West, receives a telegram from the Halfbreed Land Claims Commission, a commission set up just recently by the federal government. It’s a curt response to the Métis petition so painstakingly crafted and debated months before. Dewdney is so taken aback by the commission’s telegram that he is shocked into understanding that sharing it with the Métis of the North-West might very well cause open rebellion. Despite the millions upon millions of acres that make up the North-West, this three-man commission sitting in Ottawa has decided that only two hundred of the approximately thirteen hundred Métis who have legitimate claim will receive any entitlement. Anyone who’d received scrip in Manitoba in the past is no longer eligible, regardless of any past impropriety on the part of the government or questionable speculators, and regardless of the fact that the Métis of Manitoba were not given choice parcels of land, land that they themselves had broken with their backs. Virtually nothing that the Métis ask for is broached, including representation in local government, the delineation of all-important river lots, or acknowledgment of Métis rights as a distinct people.
Dewdney hems and haws as to what to do, finally deciding that he’d best gut this telegram to avoid trouble. When it circuitously reaches Louis a full eleven days later, Dewdney has so altered it that it now simply says, “Government has decided to investigate claims of Half Breeds and with that view has already taken preliminary steps.”
Word travels fast, and despite Dewdney’s fabricated version being far from the answer the Métis hope for, they at least recognize it as a response, finally, from John A. He has received their petition, and it will be difficult for him to not see its simple and inalienable requests.
The excitement of the Métis, their belief that their communal voice has finally been heard by Ottawa, peaks on the evening of February 24. The people have fallen into a nearreligious fervour. Prayer marathons for guidance and for leadership, for wisdom and for the future of their people, culminate in Louis speaking to the community at the Batoche church. Louis believes that if he stays any longer, his presence will become a hindrance. It’s no secret that John A. is not a fan. Rumours circulate that the police will arrest Louis on sight. The gathered crowd gasps when he announces that it is time for him to return to his simple life teaching in Montana, that the wheels have begun to turn, and it is now best that he step aside so that they may spin freely. The church erupts into cries of disbelief, becoming a single voice of desperation, of pleading that Louis stay and help finish what he has started. Louis sees that he has no choice but to do what they ask. He is moved by their desire, and he is here not only to lead but to serve them. But he warns the gathered crowd that consequences might very well follow. The people, he sees, are willing and able. Consequences be damned. The consequence will be that the Métis will finally have a home. Louis finally has a home.
CHAPTER FIVE
Oath
For Gabriel,
But with the hard times come good times, too. A huge party is thrown in Louis’s honour on the first of January, with as many as two hundred members of the Métis community coming together at the home of Baptiste Boyer to celebrate and to show their love and respect for Louis. He has come to make a stand for them, and this party is given in the hope that the rest of the year will be just as bountiful. This will be the year when the government finally pays attention and gives due where due is deserved.
No one at this point can fathom how quickly things will slide into anarchy.
Four weeks later to the day, Dewdney, the lieutenant governor and head of the territorial government of the North-West, receives a telegram from the Halfbreed Land Claims Commission, a commission set up just recently by the federal government. It’s a curt response to the Métis petition so painstakingly crafted and debated months before. Dewdney is so taken aback by the commission’s telegram that he is shocked into understanding that sharing it with the Métis of the North-West might very well cause open rebellion. Despite the millions upon millions of acres that make up the North-West, this three-man commission sitting in Ottawa has decided that only two hundred of the approximately thirteen hundred Métis who have legitimate claim will receive any entitlement. Anyone who’d received scrip in Manitoba in the past is no longer eligible, regardless of any past impropriety on the part of the government or questionable speculators, and regardless of the fact that the Métis of Manitoba were not given choice parcels of land, land that they themselves had broken with their backs. Virtually nothing that the Métis ask for is broached, including representation in local government, the delineation of all-important river lots, or acknowledgment of Métis rights as a distinct people.
Dewdney hems and haws as to what to do, finally deciding that he’d best gut this telegram to avoid trouble. When it circuitously reaches Louis a full eleven days later, Dewdney has so altered it that it now simply says, “Government has decided to investigate claims of Half Breeds and with that view has already taken preliminary steps.”
Word travels fast, and despite Dewdney’s fabricated version being far from the answer the Métis hope for, they at least recognize it as a response, finally, from John A. He has received their petition, and it will be difficult for him to not see its simple and inalienable requests.
The excitement of the Métis, their belief that their communal voice has finally been heard by Ottawa, peaks on the evening of February 24. The people have fallen into a nearreligious fervour. Prayer marathons for guidance and for leadership, for wisdom and for the future of their people, culminate in Louis speaking to the community at the Batoche church. Louis believes that if he stays any longer, his presence will become a hindrance. It’s no secret that John A. is not a fan. Rumours circulate that the police will arrest Louis on sight. The gathered crowd gasps when he announces that it is time for him to return to his simple life teaching in Montana, that the wheels have begun to turn, and it is now best that he step aside so that they may spin freely. The church erupts into cries of disbelief, becoming a single voice of desperation, of pleading that Louis stay and help finish what he has started. Louis sees that he has no choice but to do what they ask. He is moved by their desire, and he is here not only to lead but to serve them. But he warns the gathered crowd that consequences might very well follow. The people, he sees, are willing and able. Consequences be damned. The consequence will be that the Métis will finally have a home. Louis finally has a home.
CHAPTER FIVE
Oath
For Gabriel,
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